File photo: Amit Shah has been given charge of lifting the party's fortunes in India's most populous state from a dismal number four in recent elections.
's controversial right-hand man Amit Shah has drawn up an ambitious Uttar Pradesh plan for the BJP's 2014 general election campaign, with a series of Modi rallies at the centre of it.
Mr Shah, who has been given charge of lifting the party's fortunes in India's most populous state from a dismal number four in recent elections, met party president Rajnath Singh and members of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit to finalise campaign strategy today.
BJP state leaders said there was no discussion on whether Mr Modi, who was named his party's prime ministerial candidate last Friday, might contest Lok Sabha elections from UP.
There has been much speculation on whether the Gujarat Chief Minister will choose to stand from UP, considered the traditional turf of the Congress' Gandhis - party chief Sonia Gandhi is the Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareily and her son Rahul from neighbouring Amethi.
The BJP's first and only Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Lok Sabha seat was Lucknow.
The party reportedly plans a massive Modi rally in Lucknow, the state capital, in December; its brief is there must be more crowds than the ones that BSP chief Mayawati's rallies draw.
Uttar Pradesh, said sources, will be divided into eight zones for the elections, due by May, and each zone will be addressed by the 63-year-old Gujarat Chief Minister, starting next month.
For the first time, sources said, the party will look for "suitable candidates for the Lok Sabha election keeping in mind the social fabric of the constituency."
The exercise comes at a time when the state's Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav is struggling with the aftermath of communal clashes which killed nearly 50 people and displaced 40,000 in Muzaffarnagar. The young CM has faced angry protests. (
Muzaffarnagar riots: fear stalks 40,000 homeless; 'we will never go back' say some)
Uttar Pradesh, with its 80 seats contributes about 15 percent of the Lok Sabha's 545 MPs and plays an important role in deciding which party comes to power at the Centre. In the 2009 general elections, the BJP was last behind the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress.